Unassuming Flacco might be dull, but he can play QB at a high level.

The throng of media members on hand to cover Super Bowl XLVII and uncover that sexy, headline-grabbing, never-before-told story isn't going to find it by talking to Joe Flacco. The Baltimore Ravens quarterback is as bland as the food here is spicy. Heck, Flacco's own father recently described his son as “dull.”

The thing is, nowhere in the job description does it say that an NFL quarterback must be flamboyant, excitable or overtly emotional. Confident? Yes. A quarterback needs to be confident, and Flacco most certainly is. He has an ego.

Flacco also possesses the requisite intensity to play football, and play it well, at the highest level. He just doesn't feel the need to show it.

“Joe is Joe,” Ravens Pro Bowl guard Marshall Yanda said. “He's not a very outgoing guy. He's a very normal, competitive guy. He's not going to give you that big rah-rah speech, but he's going to go out there and compete his butt off and not say a word about it, good or bad. I'm 100 percent fine with that.”

Yanda couldn't recall Flacco ever yelling at a lineman for a missed block or a receiver for a dropped pass. Jay Cutler, he isn't.

Perhaps the fact Flacco's pulse rate never seems to fluctuate explains his postseason success — more road victories (six) than any quarterback in playoff history and a flawless 8-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio this year. Does Flacco raise his game in the postseason? Or does he remain the same while others succumb to nerves and pressure?

“He never has any doubts in tight situations,” Ravens receiver Torrey Smith said. “Believe me, he competes, but he doesn't like to let it show. He's like Jim Brown, who always got up slow so they couldn't tell on which hits he was hurting. Joe doesn't want to let anyone see what he's thinking.”

That poker face has served Flacco well. He's the first starting quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to make the playoffs in each of his first five seasons. As the years have gone by, the once defense-dominated Ravens have come to rely increasingly on Flacco's cannon of a right arm.

Baltimore wouldn't be here without him. The Ravens were on life support in Denver in the divisional round before Flacco calmly resuscitated them with the most improbable of 70-yard bombs, the ball slicing through the frosty mile-high air into the waiting arms of receiver Jacoby Jones.

Did Flacco pump up the troops at the outset of that last-minute, last-ditch drive with a heartfelt speech in the huddle? Of course not.

“Nothing needs to be said,” Yanda said. “When there's 30 seconds left and you've got to go win the game, I don't need a pep talk.”

(Speaking of frigid conditions, about the most controversial thing Flacco ever has said came Monday, when he referred to staging next year's Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium in New Jersey as “retarded.” Flacco, who has done extensive work with the Special Olympics, apologized the next day.)

In the AFC Championship, Flacco threw three second-half touchdown passes as Baltimore rallied from a 13-7 halftime deficit to upset New England. Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome is quick to point out that Flacco was a dropped touchdown pass away from doing the same a year ago.

That sort of talk won't help Newsome at the negotiating table — Flacco will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason — but the longtime Baltimore executive clearly appreciates his quarterback's contributions to the organization.

Before drafting Flacco out of Delaware with the 18th pick in 2008, Newsome went through a hodgepodge of passers: Vinny Testaverde, Tony Banks, Trent Dilfer, Elvis Grbac, Jeff Blake, Kyle Boller, Steve McNair. Even 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh made a cameo.

“We had made enough mistakes on quarterbacks that we kind of had an idea of what we wanted to look for,” Newsome said.

Newsome sought poise and accuracy. He got those, plus stability: Flacco has started every game since becoming a Raven.

Whether winning 62 of those 92 games makes him “elite” — the quarterback label du jour among the talking heads — is impossible to say. Winning the Super Bowl surely would enhance Flacco's résumé. As you'd expect from the most boring quarterback ever, that's his sole focus this week. He couldn't care less about being elite.

“I'm just going to let my play speak for itself,” Flacco said. “If we come out here and play the game the way we should and the way we can … we're going to be feeling pretty good about ourselves and what we accomplished.”

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